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ebook ∣ The Complete Course for the RYA Coastal and Offshore Yachtmaster Certificate

By alison noice.

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9781408122860

Alison Noice

A&C Black

30 July 2010

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How a cargo ship took down Baltimore’s Key Bridge

To bridge experts, the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after being hit by a heavy cargo ship was as inevitable as it was devastating.

When a vessel as heavy as the Singapore-flagged Dali crashes with such force into one of the span’s supercolumns, or piers, the result is the type of catastrophic, and heartbreaking, chain reaction that took place early Tuesday.

“If the column is destroyed, basically the structure will fall down,” said Dan Frangopol, a bridge engineering and risk professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania who is president of the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety. “It’s not possible to redistribute the loads. It was not designed for these things.”

No bridge pier could withstand being hit by a ship the size of the Dali, said Benjamin W. Schafer, a professor of civil and systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

“These container ships are so huge,” Schafer said. “That main span has two supports. You can’t take one away.” He called the accident “a huge infrastructure failure,” but not because of the bridge collapse; he said the shipping industry needs systems to keep a ship on track when it loses power, as the Dali did before the collision.

The bridge itself, which carried more than 30,000 vehicles daily, appeared to be structurally sound. Its condition was rated fair, according to data in the 2023 National Bridge Inventory maintained by the Federal Highway Administration. Maryland state officials said they were focused on search-and-rescue operations and did not provide later inspection data. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said excavating detailed inspection history information — and what was done in response to any earlier findings — will be a cumbersome and protracted part of the agency’s investigation.

But bridge safety and engineering experts are emphasizing a separate issue: protective barriers.

When the span opened to traffic in 1977, many ships were smaller and the standards for protecting bridges against them were lower, they said.

A few years later, a Liberian cargo ship crashed into a bridge in Florida , sending a Greyhound bus, a pickup truck and six cars into the Tampa Bay and killing 35 people, according to the NTSB. That deadly 1980 collision helped lead to the adoption of stronger national standards for bridges, including protection from errant ships, in the years that followed, safety experts said.

Sherif El-Tawil, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of Michigan with expertise in bridges, said if the Key Bridge had been built after those updated standards from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials were put in place, the span could still be standing.

“I believe it would have survived,” El-Tawil said.

Maryland officials did not answer questions Tuesday about what protective devices were in place near the bridge and whether they were sufficient to withstand this type of collision.

Two examples of protective measures that did not appear to have been in place, El-Tawil said, were large fenders designed to direct marine traffic away from the bridge supports and an island built around the pier.

Some states are building these kinds of protection systems around vital bridges. Last year, officials from a joint New Jersey and Delaware bridge authority announced work on eight 80-foot-wide, stone-filled cylinders designed to protect the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The existing protection for the bridge tower piers dates to 1951. “Today’s tankers and ships are bigger and faster than those of the 1950s and 1960s,” the officials said in announcing the nearly $93 million project.

State departments of transportation “are aware of the shortcomings of these bridges,” said Roberto T. Leon, a bridge and structural engineering professor at Virginia Tech. “It’s not that they don’t know. It’s a matter of prioritizing the repairs. It is a very expensive proposition to protect a bridge.”

Ian Firth, a British structural engineer and bridge designer, said he was “not surprised” at how quickly the bridge came down after it was hit. He noted that the support structure that was struck, which would have been made of reinforced concrete, was one of two main supports responsible for doing “all the work” to hold up the bridge.

He said the ship appeared to have strayed to one side before striking the bridge.

The bridge collapse, like other calamities, is probably the result of overlapping low-probability failures, said Edward Tenner, a historian and expert on disasters — akin to what happens when, by chance, the holes in a stack of Swiss cheese slices line up perfectly.

“This might have been a case where there were just an unlikely series of failures,” said Tenner, author of “Why Things Bite Back,” a book about technology and its unanticipated consequences. But he added, “I suspect there was something about the equipment of a huge ship like that, given the potential for damage like this, there should have been more redundancy. There shouldn’t have been one point of failure that could lead to a catastrophe.”

Speaking Tuesday afternoon in Baltimore, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the accident “a unique circumstance,” adding, “I do not know of a bridge that has been constructed to withstand a direct impact from a vessel of this size.”

The ship was towed into the Patapsco River initially, but the tugboats did not accompany the ship all the way to the bridge, said John Konrad, a retired ship captain who runs the gCaptain maritime news website and co-authored a book on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill .

“The safe thing to do is keep the tugs,” Konrad said. “Moving forward, I think that’s going to happen. The Coast Guard is going to say you’ve got to keep the tugs tied up until you pass the bridge.”

In video imagery, the ship can be seen losing electrical power, then briefly regaining it before going completely dark. The ship then veers to the right, directly toward the bridge’s structural support.

The rudder may have gotten stuck in a position that caused the ship to turn, said a senior retired maritime official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity while waiting for more details on the incident. It’s also possible that an incoming tide could have been a factor, he said.

“Obviously, they could not control the ship. They could not stop the ship,” he said.

A deficiency in the Dali’s systems was discovered when the ship was inspected in June, records show. Inspectors at the port of San Antonio, Chile, discovered a problem categorized as relating to “propulsion and auxiliary machinery,” according to the Tokyo MOU, an intergovernmental shipping regulator in the Asia-Pacific region. The issue was classified in the subcategory of “Gauges, thermometers, etc,” but no additional details of the deficiency were provided. The problem was not serious enough to warrant detaining the ship, according to the records.

After a follow-up inspection later the same day, the Dali was found to have no outstanding deficiencies, the records show, indicating that the problem was addressed.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said at a news conference Tuesday that the Dali lost power and issued an emergency call for help shortly before the freighter crashed into the bridge. The “mayday” distress call allowed officials to halt vehicle traffic headed over the bridge and saved lives, Moore said.

Erin Cox, Tom Jackman, Jon Swaine, Joyce Lee and Mark Johnson contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this article misstated the title of Edward Tenner's book. It is "Why Things Bite Back." This version has been corrected.

Things to do in Moscow: how to visit Moscow | Unmissable, cool & unusual

• September 2, 2023

What are the best things to do in Moscow? What to do in Moscow? First, I will list the main places to visit by theme, passing by the must-sees, but also more unusual places in Moscow. Then, I will describe what to see in Moscow in one day and how to visit Moscow in 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 days. Let’s go!

Good to know. For more information, click on the places to open the dedicated blog posts.

Main places to visit in Moscow & best things to do in Moscow

I worked in Moscow and I loved this city for its dynamism and energy. We find there from time to time to see friends, remember good memories and enjoy this giant city! Then the time has come for us to share with you our practical guide.

TOP 5 must-see places in Moscow

• Moscow Red Square
• St. Basil’s Cathedral
• Cathedral of Christ the Savior
• Bolshoi Theatre

Places of cultural, historical and religious interest in Moscow

• Novodevichy Convent and cemetery
• Tretyakov Gallery
• Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
• Kremlin Izmaïlovo (pseudo-historic place, recently built in the image of the old, one of the best things to do in Moscow for your Instagram account 😉 )
• Park and ancient village of Kolomenskoye

Visit Moscow of the Soviet era

• Moscow State University and Sparrows Hill
• VDNKh and the Museum of Astronautics, one of the key landmarks of the Soviet era in Moscow
• GULAG Museum
• Metro stations
• The Stalinist skyscrapers, scattered all over the city

Less touristy places in Moscow

• Gorky Park and the GARAGE museum
• The old Krasny Oktyabr factory
• Zaryadye Park
• Center for Contemporary Art, WINZAVOD
• Business center, Moscow City

Main districts of Moscow to visit

• Patriarch Ponds
• Tchistye Prudy
• Kuznetsky most
• Arbat Street

However, regardless of the length of your stay, whether you are going to visit Moscow in 4 days or in 2, you need a visa. The article Obtaining a tourist visa for Russia could then be useful in any case.

What to do and see in Moscow in one day?

List of things to see and do in Moscow in one day:

• Go to Red Square
• Visit St. Basil’s Cathedral
• See Kremlin walls (but not to visit)
• Visit Cathedral of Christ the Savior
• Discover Kuznetsky most districts and see Bolshoi Theatre building
• And if you have time at the end of the day: go to the Sparrows Hill or to the Moscow City for a beautiful view

Things to do in Moscow in 2 days

If you want to visit Moscow in 2 days, there are 2 purposes: do not miss the essential places of Moscow and optimize travel.

• First day: Red Square , Saint Basil’s Cathedral , Zariadye Park, Bolshoi Theatre , Kremlin
• Day 2: Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the former Krasny Oktyabr factory on Balchug Island, Gorky Park, Moscow State University (one of the Seven Sisters buildings ) and Sparrow Hill

As 2 days os really short, be sure to choose an accommodation in the best districts where to stay in Moscow .

Walking on Red Square in Moscow: one of the unmissable things to do in Moscow

Iconic place and one of the must-see places in Moscow and even in Russia! Besides, if there was only one place to visit in Moscow in 2 days, this place would then be Red Square, without hesitation. Therefore, starting the city tour with Red Square is ideal . Several buildings are on the square, but not all of them have to be visited. Check out my blog post about Moscow’s Red Square in detail to learn more and not miss anything.

Visiting Saint-Basil’s Cathedral inside

Even more emblematic than Moscow’s Red Square! Built in the middle of the 16th century under the orders of Tsar Ivan Le Terrible, this cathedral is one of the most beautiful monuments of Orthodox art, and definitely one of the unmissable places in Moscow. Visiting Saint-Basil’s Cathedral inside is one of the most beautiful things to do in Moscow!

• Visit estimate time : 1h30
• Entry ticket : 700 RUB. Tickets can be purchased on the cathedral’s official website 45 days before the tour.
• Audio guide (recommended): 500 RUB
• Opening hours : June to August 10 am-6pm; from November to April: 11 am-5pm; May, September, October 11 am-5pm. Cathedral closed on Wednesdays. Entrance is closed 45 minutes before closing.
• Find out more in the dedicated article: Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow

Take a walk in Zariadye park: one of the coolest things to do in Moscow after visiting Red Square

Zaryadie Park is just a 10-minute walk from St. Basil’s Cathedral, so it’s easy to include in your itinerary if you’re going to visit Moscow in 2 days. From its heights, you can see the red walls of the Kremlin. But, the most impressive point of view is the platform which overlooks the Moskva river. A must see! And clearly one of the coolest things to do in Moscow!

• Open 24 hours a day
• Good to know! Park Zaryadye is also a place to visit in Moscow in winter. Find out more here: What to do in Moscow in winter?

See the Bolshoi Theatre and discover the Kuznetsky Most district

The Bolshoi Theatre is the most famous Russian theater in the world. The most economical way to see a presentation at the Bolshoi Theater is to take the tickets on the theater’s official website in advance, so here is our tutorial to help you: How to buy entrance tickets to the Bolshoi? In addition, several pedestrian or one-way streets

The Bolshoi Theater is the most famous Russian theater in the world. The most economical way to see a presentation at the Bolshoi Theater is to take the tickets on the theater’s official website in advance, so here is our tutorial to help you: How to buy tickets to the Bolshoi? In addition, several pedestrian or one-way streets are located north of the theater. It is therefore very pleasant to find them to leave the main axes of the megalopolis.

Visit the Moscow Kremlin

Visit Kremlin is on top of things to do in Moscow. A place of power for centuries, the Kremlin then shows us a whole different image when viewed from the inside. If you want to visit Moscow in 2 days, the Kremlin is certainly one of the must-see places in Moscow.

• Opening hours : Daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thursday.
• See our blog post about visiting the Moscow Kremlin

Visit the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

This impressive Moscow Cathedral is the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is a must see if you visit Moscow in 2 days and clearly one of the things to do in Moscow. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was first built in 1883 in memory of Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s Grand Army. Then in 1931 Stalin ordered its destruction. It was then rebuilt again (identically) only in 2000.

• Where? Ulitsa Volkhonka 15. At the foot of the Kropotkinskaya metro station.
• Opening hours . Daily: 10: 00-17: 00, except Monday: 13: 00-17: 00
• Free entry (some closing restrictions, for example a short)

Good to know! In orthodox religious places, one must avoid excessively uncovered clothing. Women should cover their heads. After visiting the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, you can explore Bolotny Island and Gorky Park. This is one of the routes our guide to Moscow.

The old Krasny Oktyabr factory: one of the coolest things to do in Moscow

If you cross the Moskva River by a pedestrian bridge which is located just in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, you will enjoy a beautiful view of the city and at the same time you can discover Balchug Island. Furthermore, if you want to visit Moscow in 2 days, you can include this island in your itinerary between the cathedral and Gorky park. Here is the old confectionery factory Krasny Oktyabr, which has gradually turned into a fashionable micro-district. There are then some elements of street art, cafes and restaurants and some Moscow bohemian side. At the end of the island you can see a gigantic 98-meter-high monument dedicated to the Russian reforming tsar Pierre The Great.

Good to know! You can find on this island are the trendiest nightclubs in Moscow. On weekends, there are taxi caps after midnight so there are so many people. On the other hand, if you go there in winter and during the day, the island is quite empty and less interesting to see.

Gorky Park is one of the TOP places to visit in Moscow, because it allows you to better understand the life of the locals and their rhythm. In fact, it’s a huge entertainment park. For example, in winter there is a giant ice rink and in summer – free dance or yoga lessons, sandy beaches for playing volleyball, an outdoor cinema. So, like the locals, have a Stakantchik (ice cream or cooked corn), and enjoy the atmosphere of the place: that’s one of the interesting things to do in Moscow to discover the city.

• Where? Krymsky Val 9. 20 minutes’ walk from Krasny Oktyabr, along the quays.

Sparrow Hill and Moscow State University

The Sparrow Hill, Vorobiovy Gori in Russian, is the highest point in Moscow. It is rather known to Russians, but less to travelers. A nice view on Moscow opens from the hill, and in particular on the Luzhniki Stadium. In addition, on the hill itself is the Moscow State University: an impressive skyscraper from the Soviet era.

• How to get there? By bus T7 (35 min) from Oktyaborskaya station, near Gorki Park. By metro (Vorobiovy Gorki station) + climb the hill on foot. On foot along the Moskva along the Gorky Park (1h30) + climb in funiculars.

Good to know! It is possible to cross the Moskva river by funicular. We actually tested it and it was pretty cool! That is one of our favorite things to do in Moscow!

What to do in Moscow in 3 days?

If you are going to visit Moscow in 3 days, it would be interesting to dive into the Soviet era which strongly marked the country and the city. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the capital was transferred from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, in order to mark the change of power. Moscow then became the world showcase for communist ideology. Here are the best things to do in Moscow for 3-day-trip!

VDNKh, visit Moscow of the Soviet era

VDNKh is a large exhibition center in the north of Moscow, where there are still several striking witnesses of the USSR. The most interesting are the Museum of Cosmonauts and the Statue of the Worker and the Kolkhozian , which will certainly impress you with its size!

GULAG History Museum

The explanations of the museum are very well done. We really have the feeling of going back in time. If you are going to visit Moscow in 3 days and you are interested in history and this subject in particular, I recommend this museum. Visit the GULAG History Museum is one of the most interesting things to do in Moscow.

Discover the Patriarche Pounds district

It’s a nice neighborhood in Moscow where you can come across rather affluent locals, but not necessarily very bling-bling. Take a walk in this area is really a cool thing to do in Moscow! In addition, the Ponds of Patriarch is one of the places of Bulgakov’s novel “Master and Margarita”. As this is an interesting area to see, we have included it in a walking tour of Moscow. The route ends at the Moscow Kremlin, which is very convenient, because you will be able to visit Moscow in 3 days by optimizing your trips.

What to visit in Moscow in 4 days: TOP things to do in Moscow in 4 days

If you want to visit Moscow in 3 days, you will already see a lot of things. On the other hand, if you stay one more day, you have plenty to do! The Novodevichy Convent, the Tchistie Proudy district and the Izmaylovo Kremlin are very good candidates for you, if you are going to visit Moscow in 4 days.

Visiting Novodevichy Convent in Moscow

The Novodevichy Convent is one of the most brilliant examples of Russian architecture, according to UNESCO. This beautiful complex was built in 1524 and today consists of the convent, but also of a cemetery whose status could be compared to that of Père-Lachaise in Paris. Visiting Novodevichy Convent is one of the great things to do in Moscow, if you want to go a little bit outside of the center!

Discovering Tchistye Proudy district

It’s one of the most popular areas of Moscow, with many cafes, restaurants and bars nearby. It is therefore a place to discover if you want to visit Moscow in 4 days. It is just as pleasant for a stroll as for the discovery of local life. For example, in winter the pond turns into an ice rink.

Visiting the Izmaylovo Kremlin, one of the coolest things to do in Moscow!

The Izmaylovo Kremlin is more of a tourist than a historic place. On the other hand, it is a pretty impressive place to discover, especially on weekends. Inside the Kremlin, there is a flea market where you can find a little bit of everything, but mostly good souvenirs to bring from Moscow. For example, chapka, traditional Russian scarves or matryoshka (Russian dolls). Add the Kremlin and the Izmaïlovo market to your itinerary if you are going to visit Moscow in 4 days, because it is a nice and very colorful place! Visiting the Izmailovo Kremlin is one of the things to do in Moscow, if you want to put colors in your Instagram account! 😉

In 4 days, we will have the opportunity to see several Moscow: Classic Moscow, Moscow of old Russia, Soviet Moscow and a little bit of the new Moscow. So what to visit in Moscow on the 5th day of travel?

What to visit in Moscow in 5 days?

Art lovers will be delighted to discover the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, while others will prefer to stroll along Arbat Street, see the buildings of Moskva-City or visit Bunker 42.

Admiring Russian art at Tretyakov Gallery

Founded in 1856 by an industrialist and great lover of art, the gallery has grown over the decades, and then bequeathed to the state. Today the collection includes more than 140,000 pieces, 15,000 of which are paintings. Visiting the Tretyakov Gallery is one of the things to do in Moscow if you want to discover Russian art!

• Where? Pereoulok Lavrouchinski 10. A 5-minute walk from Tretiakovskaya station
• Opening hours. Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Closed on Mondays.
• Entry tickets. 500 RUB.

Visiting the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts presents the treasures of ancient Egypt, the paintings of Rembrandt and Cézanne, a fine collection of Impressionism.

• Where? Ulitsa Volkhonka 12
• Opening hours. Daily: 10: 00-20: 00, except Thursday: 11: 00-21: 00. Closed on Mondays. The boxes close an hour before closing.
• Entry tickets. The prices vary according to the collections from 300 to 750 RUB.

Walking on Arbat Street

All Russians know Rue Arbat. So, walking on Arbat street is one of the things to do in Moscow. However, after the years, little by little it became very touristy. This is a pedestrian street only. There are souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes there, but it is no longer the most authentic neighborhood in the city.

Seeing the buildings of Moskva-City (Moscow City)

Moskva-City is Moscow’s business center, much like Paris’s Defense district. The skyscrapers of Moskva-City are among the tallest in Europe: 373 meters high! Very nice place to see at dusk.

Good to know! You can admire a nice view of Moscow City from the docks of Tarasa Shevchenko. It’s especially beautiful in the evening with all the lights on.

Bunker 42, one of the most unusual things to do in Moscow

Bunker 42 is a secret military complex which was to be used by the Soviets in the event of a nuclear attack: a space of 7000 m² 65 meters underground!

• Where? 5 Kotelnitcheski Lane, 11.
• Prices. 2200 RUB per person
• Opening hours. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Restaurant inside. Original, but rather a tourist trap.

What to visit in Moscow in 6 days or more?

There are still so many places to see, because Moscow is a big megalopolis and there is always something exciting to do there. For example: the ancient Kolomenskoye village or the WINZAVOD contemporary art center .

If you are interested in history and want to see Russian cities on a rather “human scale”, it would certainly be interesting for you to discover the cities of the Golden Ring . For example, it is very easy to get to Sergey Posad from Moscow (less than 2 hours in train). Visiting the Golden Ring is one of the best things to do in Moscow if you are staying more than a 5-6 days.

There are still plenty of places to see in Moscow, however I did my best to list here the best things to do in Moscow, what to see in Moscow in one day, but also in 2, 3, 4 or 5 days in Moscow!

Moscow travel tips:

• Airport transfer: how to go to Moscow?
• Where to stay in Moscow (hotels, districts)?
• Tourist voucher for Russian visa
• Christmas and New Year in Moscow
• What is the best time to visit Moscow?

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The most famous landmarks in Moscow—like Red Square (above), the Kremlin, Lenin’s mausoleum—all stand for the might of the state, and form the heart of the city.

Moscow: Opulent, Overwhelming, and Pulsing With Power

Living in Moscow can be terrifying and mesmerizing, says author.

MOSCOW — If Carl Sandburg’s Chicago was “ stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders ,” Moscow is “City of the Big Automobile”: tempestuous, loud-horned, insanely hurried, and engorged on wealth—only New York has more billionaires—highlighting Russia ’s status as a hydrocarbon-endowed erstwhile empire of fantastical dimensions. (You can jet eastward from Moscow nine and a half hours nonstop without leaving Russia.)

In a land where many acquired their apartments from the state, cars billboard social rank like nothing else. There is nothing subtle about this. Rich Muscovites shove their opulent rolling stock in your face. Drivers lord it over lesser beings plodding about on foot. For a long time, cars would honk as they approached intersections, rarely slowing down, and scattering pedestrians like chickens—or even, to bypass bottlenecks, swerving up onto the pavement. (In recent years, with stricter laws and higher fines, the roads and sidewalks have become safer, but barreling down streets the wrong way is still distressingly common.)

Drivers suffer, too: With all the traffic jams, getting from one end of the city to the other by car can take hours.

I’ve called Moscow home for the past 22 years. Even with the crisis in Ukraine , and Vladimir Putin’s ever more authoritarian rule, I haven’t seriously thought of leaving. I came of age here , started writing here, met my wife here, wrote three books about Russia here (and four others as well), witnessed armed conflict here, was robbed here (twice), and have been terrified here and mesmerized here.

In short, I found my life here and have few regrets. I visited first as a tourist in 1985 but settled for good in July 1993, fresh from the peripatetic adventure I’d undertaken for Siberian Dawn (my first book)—an 8,325-mile (13,398-kilometer) trek by truck, train, boat, and taxi from Magadan, on the frozen Sea of Okhotsk, across Siberia, southern Russia, and Ukraine to Poland.

Sunday night is gay night at Propaganda, one of the city’s most popular clubs. Western economic sanctions haven’t slowed Muscovites down much.

Exhausted from my months-long wanderings, but enamored of Russian history, literature, and language, I settled in the capital at a chaotic time of anti- Yeltsin demonstrations, mass impoverishment (aka “free-market reforms”), mafiya shootouts, and, above all, threats of civil war that would end with the Kremlin sending tanks to shell reactionary opponents holed up in the parliament.

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Power Statement

Moscow, I sensed then, was as it is now: pulsing with power and anarchic energy, always on the qui vive, the one place in Russia that mattered for the rest of the world. It’s no coincidence that its most famous landmarks—the Kremlin, Red Square, Lenin’s mausoleum—all stand for the might of the state, and form the heart of the city.

The main thoroughfares leading to them were conceived not for Ferraris and dolce vita –style frolicking but for T-90 tanks and military parades. Such parades embodied ambitions rooted in more than a thousand years of Eastern Christianity (and later transmuted into a zeal for messianic communism).

For centuries, after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, Orthodox believers, having lost their spiritual capital, looked to Moscow, as the sayings go, as “Guardian of the Faith” and as the “Third Rome, and a fourth there shall never be.” Russia’s sense of destiny has always intrigued me and anchored me here.

So in 1993 I rented, for just $150 a month, a cramped, one-room flat just off Novocheryomushkinskaya Street in a decent area in Moscow’s gritty, semi-industrialized southeast. The city was still mostly Soviet in exterior, dark in spirit, peopled by young and old angered by the collapse of the Soviet Union, by limitless ranks of corrupt police and officials, by grifters and fortune-seekers and woebegone pensioners.

Friday night rush hour as seen from the top of the Pekin Hotel demonstrates the truth of Jeffrey Tayler’s opinion that Moscow is the “City of the Big Automobile”: tempestuous, loud-horned, insanely hurried, and engorged on wealth.

Lonely, I wrote all day, consoling myself by gazing out my picture window onto a birch- and poplar-studded park, where leaves began turning gold in already chilly mid-August. (Summers were shorter then.)

The first anti-Yeltsin violence began in late September, and the shelling of the Supreme Soviet (the parliament left over from communist decades) came in early October, followed by a two-week, dusk-to-dawn curfew, automatic gunfire in the night, snipers haunting rooftops, cries to halt, and screams in the blackness outside my window. No sign yet of the transformative, glittering bacchanalia to come.

I kept my head down and worked on my book. Adjusting was difficult. I was born in Washington, D.C.; the often menacing, rawhide environs of Moscow intimidated me. Even without the threat of tank fire, the city can still have this effect, at least on newcomers.

Pride of the City

At rush hour, to enter the cheap but majestic, efficiently run metro in the center, you pass through the turnstile and are swept into a crowd thronging toward one of the three rapidly moving escalators. You ride down into an arch-ceilinged tunnel so long and deep that stations served as bomb shelters during WWII. Uniformed attendants at the bottom hector passengers through loudspeakers—“Take that purse off the handrail! You there, no running!” Until recent years, bloodied street bums and scar-faced drunks would take refuge from the weather on station platforms.

Russians launched the first satellite, dog, and man into space, but ask Muscovites what they take the most pride in, Tayler writes, and chances are they’ll say the metro.

Yet the metro cars were, and still are, broader and cleaner than anywhere else I’ve been. Trains run every minute or two and rarely break down. Russians launched the first satellite, dog, and man into space, but ask Muscovites what they take the most pride in, and chances are they’ll say the metro.

Street life in Moscow has never been for the faint of heart. Construction work at times diverts pedestrians off the sidewalks into traffic. Speeding, honking motorcades carrying the president and other officials may disrupt traffic, with officers in accompanying police escort cars shouting at drivers through loudspeakers to clear the way, and fast! (Putin has taken to moving about by helicopter, or working at his residence outside the city, so this problem is diminishing.)

In times past, brigades of ill-tempered, scarved old women swept courtyards with stick brooms. Nowadays, this duty is performed by (generally cheerful) young immigrant Uzbeks and Tadzhiks, living reminders of the devastating invasions from the east seven centuries ago, and refugees from the poverty and repression still reigning in formerly Soviet Central Asia.

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The migration has not gone down well with many Muscovites, and ethnically motivated riots have occasionally broken out. “Ponayekhali tut” (people have poured in from everywhere), Muscovites love to say. Once, they meant folks from the provinces, but now from almost anywhere in the old U.S.S.R.

Moscow’s north-central districts are more prosperous and habitable, so I eventually moved there, to an apartment between Belorussky Station and the Mayakovskaya metro station . Here, tranquil parks and playgrounds and Soviet-era buildings predominate, once prestigious but now outshined by new edifices elsewhere in town. (The Rublyovka area in Moscow’s west boasts some of the world’s highest-priced real estate.)

Army guards in Tverskaya Street stand ready to oversee the crowds at the Kremlin Zorya, the international military band performances on Red Square.

My change of address put me in close proximity to power: The Kremlin’s red-brick ramparts are just a half-hour walk down Tverskaya Street , which was once stately and imposing but these days is lined with trendy shops and tony restaurants.

Being in the center has had its downsides, though. The protests that erupted in 2011 after tainted elections to the State Duma hit my neighborhood hard. Riot troops arrived in transport trucks and parked just north of Triumfal’naya Square , where for several frigid December nights they clashed with furious crowds. I could hear sirens from my windows.

Until not long ago, destitute homeless folk from the provinces managed to break open our building’s coded entrance door and pass the night in our stairwell. One day, just across the street, I passed a corpse in rags lying in the middle of the parking lot. No one paid it much mind.

The demonstrations have died out, but one day a year is anything but quiet here. On May 9, the Victory D ay parade passes near my building, proceeds down Tverskaya Street, and crosses Red Square, featuring nuclear missiles on trailers and rumbling tanks and goose-stepping platoons, just as in Soviet times. From my balcony I’ve watched jet fighters and bombers roar past in formation just above the rooftops. Muscovites hardly notice them. Fireworks, always spectacular, come in the evening; these, Muscovites do notice.

Volunteer Tatyana Sveshnikova tends to a homeless man. Hundreds of the homeless freeze to death on city streets in the winter.

Cycle of the Seasons

The seasons dramatically affect life in the city. Fall and winter are now more clement, but they still can be rough on Muscovites, breeding a sort of cabin fever. But, in any case, summers always compensate.

Then, during the pink-orange gloaming of the lingering northern evenings, Moscow’s central boulevards become impromptu fashion runways, with wasp-waisted women on high heels striding along gracefully but assertively, often in the company of hulking young men. Groups of teens take advantage of the warmth and stand around in courtyards, drinking beer or vodka and smoking, shouting, and laughing, often until late.

In the Turandot restaurant, musicians playing Mozart add a touch of tone to the glitzy scene. Conspicuous consumption has fueled Moscow's ascent into the ranks of the world's most expensive cities.

In my neighborhood, in the 1990s and 2000s, they were Russians; these days, they’re mostly Central Asians. Bars and restaurants, once frequently disturbed by drunken carousers, are now as civil as anywhere (and, with the ruble’s devaluation vis-à-vis the dollar, much less expensive, at least for hard-currency holders), and many offer dining outside on verandas.

Nevertheless, one of my steady haunts throughout the year is a friendly café restaurant many blocks south, Mayak , a favorite with actors, journalists, and the intelligentsia. No balcony there, but inside peals of laughter and moderate prices.

Whatever one thinks of Putin, Moscow has evolved and progressed during his 15 years at Russia’s helm. The 1990s phantasms of cataclysm and revolt have receded; even the Ukraine crisis has hardly ruffled the city.

More and more, in public places once dour Muscovites smile and treat one another with a politesse that was rare a decade ago. A new generation is growing up studying English and traveling abroad. The formerly ubiquitous rude Russian salesclerk is mostly gone, with affable warmth toward customers increasingly the rule.

A shopper scythes through bitter cold to get to a boutique on Red Square. Tayler, who has called Moscow home for 22 years, says the seasons dramatically affect life in the city.

Yet images from my trans-Russian odyssey of 1993 remain embedded in my mind, reminding me that Moscow is at once Russian yet not entirely representative of the rural, conservative hinterland beyond its bounds that stretches from the borders of Europe all the way to the Bering Strait.

To get a taste of this other Russia, I often visit the Tret’yakov Gallery . There, I lose myself in wonder before the paintings of Ilya Repin (in particular “ A Religious Procession in the Province of Kursk ”) and Isaak Levitan, whose landscapes (including “ Above the Eternal Peace ” and “ Golden Autumn ”) take me back to pastoral realms of soft light and slow-moving rivers, of onion-domed churches rising above birches and pines, of timeless peace.

But alongside these works hang others depicting the epochal tragedy of Russian history that has been, and remains, autocracy’s true legacy. Vasily Surikov’s “ Morning of the Streltsy Execution ” and “ Boyarynya Morozova ” come to mind. Both canvases show events relating to the rise of Peter the Great, the Moscow-born ruler who turned Russia from an obscure regional power into a continental power the world still has difficulty understanding and reckoning with. Winston Churchill summed up Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

If anyone, foreign or Russian, ever solves the enigma, he or she will do so in Moscow. Hence, I stay.

Jeffrey Tayler is a contributing editor at the Atlantic. His seventh book, Topless Jihadis—Inside Femen, the World's Most Provocative Activist Group , i s an Atlantic e-book. Follow Jeffrey Tayler on Twitter .

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